The Alchemyst by Michael Scott

The Alchemyst (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, #1)

by Michael Scott

Nicholas Flamel appeared in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter—but did you know he really lived? And his secrets aren't safe! Discover the truth in book one of the New York Times bestselling series the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel.
 
The truth: Nicholas Flamel's tomb is empty.
 
The legend: Nicholas Flamel lives.

   Nicholas Flamel is the greatest Alchemyst to ever live. The records show that he died in 1418, but what if he's actually been making the elixir of life for centuries?
    The secrets to eternal life are hidden within the book he protects—the Book of Abraham the Mage. It's the most powerful book that has ever existed, and in the wrong hands, it will destroy the world. And that's exactly what Dr. John Dee plans to do when he steals it.
    There is one hope. If the prophecy is true, Sophie and Josh Newman have the power to save everyone. Now they just have to learn to use it. 

“The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel has everything you loved about Harry Potter, including magic, mystery, and a constant battle of good versus evil.”—Bustle

Read the whole series!
The Alchemyst
The Magician
The Sorceress
The Necromancer
The Warlock
The Enchantress

Reviewed by sa090 on

4 of 5 stars

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I actually started this book while reading Sandry's Book, I never ever read two book in the same time, not because I lack the attention span to follow multiple stories (Hello my currently watching anime list) but because I needed a distraction and thankfully I did, this was a really fun story to read.

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The covers are some of the absolute best I've ever seen, I tip my hat to whoever designed them. The story isn't really groundbreaking, it's been done many many times before but it does have some unique-ish elements. The world he built with the Elder Race, historical figures and I'm sure others to come was brilliant to read about. I'm a big fan of both history and mythology so when a book combines both aspects into it and better yet actually has most of its characters based on real people or people that actually existed in legends makes it so awesome. This one did, only the siblings were made up, everyone else existed in myth, legend or real life. I also met a few names that I don't know much about so I'm definitely interested in learning more in either my own side readings or through the story.

Magic is amazing and the way Micheal Scott handled it gives it a somewhat unique take on it, the way it connects to someone's aura and of course the individualistic traits that come with it makes you think about the possibilities he can take with this. The different smells associated with it does too, I mean what exactly decides why each aura smells the way it does? Even though that particular scent might not be a favourite or important in any way to the individual? At this point all I can say is that there's more to it than just preferences so I'm looking forward to know what later on. The linkage between science and magic reminded me of the Toaru Majutsu no Index series with the two sides of the spectrum but with this one being more interlinked than actually opposing sides makes it all the more interesting.

Bringing in a super ancient Codex with some disturbing accurate prophecies here and there increased the mystery side of the series, also makes you wonder just how much of a choice do the two of them have? At the moment it seems that it's not much but I'm sure there's more to it than just that simple way of putting it. The way the story moved a little messy tbh, the entire book is told on the expense of two days in the verse which meant that Micheal Scott had to sacrifice some opportunities for world or rather history building that could've taken priority in this book but in another way the events themselves realistically indicate that there is no time to sit around and give the twins a thorough update on what's happening so while it may have made the book a little less enjoyable to me, I do understand the reasoning behind it. 5 more books exist in this series and I'm sure my answered are amongst their pages.

The last thing I really liked here would have to be the portrayal of a certain woman in this series, even captured she continues being one of the best and most vital characters in the series. Yes in a book about Nicholas Flamel I'd expect the series to have him be this untouchable awesome individual while those associated with him would've been less awesome but on the contraire, that woman continued being a badass and I honestly can't wait to see what else she's up to. Speaking of characters while the ancient ones were interesting, I can't say the same for Josh. For a 15 year old who basically had to rely on himself and his twin since his younger years I'd expect a little bit more of rational thinking. Yes, he's thrust into a world that destroyed every image he had about his boring life so being freaked out is acceptable but I meant in thinking before speaking with things that could kill you 1000x before you even realize what's happening sort of thing.

Getting a little more control on his emotions would be great as well, he was a little too hotheaded for my taste and it was like he was switching between emotions way too much. One minute he's angry, in another he's appreciative of what's happening and then back to anger before being way too overprotective and so on. This whirlwind needs to come under control a bit, with where they're headed I hope it will.

Final rating: 4/5

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 15 March, 2017: Finished reading
  • 15 March, 2017: Reviewed